So like a rose
by Teensie-sama
Summary: She's broken and damaged. Her spirit corrupted but a vague memory of her savior linger in her mind, and she sets out to find him. Sad, dark tale. RATED VERY MA....ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE...
1. Chapter 1

AN: Rape in the context of this story but not descriptive nor detailed.

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Chapter 1

**Penelope's poison.**

The cold winter air blew in as the door swung open. Her father staggered in. Her mother could smell the stench of alcohol on his breath. In his alcohol rage he started beating her while Kagome cringed in the corner, hands covered over her head as the sound of fist meeting face rang loudly in the young girl's ears. She heard her mother's whimpers and pleas for him to stop. It only made his rage worse.

Shaking her head, the tears flung wildly about landing on the tile floor. "Daddy stop! Stop it!" she screamed, still cowering in the corner.

Silence.

His footsteps thundered as he approached her little form. "No! Please not her!" Her mother begged. A hard back hand sent her meek body flying towards the cupboards, killing the unborn child inside. He hoovered over the little girl and grabbed her by the arm. "Got a smart mouth do ya little ungrateful bitch?!"

His hand meeting her tiny face sent her neck almost 180 degrees by his hard force.

The next thing she knew, they were standing outside the door as the snow poured down.

Her mother banged on the door, begging and pleading for him to let them in. The loud sounds of the TV drowned out her voice.

Shivering in the cold winter weather, they trucked themselves up the snow-covered dirt road to find shelter for the night. An abandon warehouse was were they spent the freezing night.

The next day, as her mother held her hand to walk them back 'home' again, she noticed a little plant. She saw the pretty red berries and picked it. She clasped it in the palm of her hand all the way home. _Keep breathing..._She told herself.

It had been a while after the night in the snow and her berries had grown into a small plant.

She called it Penelope.

She had Penelope on the window sill when her father's blood splattered over the leaves, soaking into the dirt she'd planted it in. Her mother had shot him with his own shot gun.

Her mother had had enough.

Kagome was five.

_Keep on breathing..._she reminded herself.

It was a fall evening when the door to her bedroom creaked. The smell of alcohol on his breath. The rustling of her blanket as he climbed into bed next to her medium form. "Daddy needs to be warmed up." her step-father cooed. He invaded her virgin path and she felt the trickling of the red blood soaking into her sheets as he had his way with her young prepubescent body. Mute, she stared at Penelope sitting on her window sill. The tears trickled it's way down her face. It was not the last. _Keep breathing.._.she said again.

Kagome was ten.

Their house a shamble when she came home from school, her mother's lifeless body lying on the floor. Her throat slit and her blood oozed into the bottom of the pot that held Penelope. The roots soaked her blood. The police said someone had broken in and her mother had surprised the culprit, leading to her death. _Keep on breathing..._she said to herself as they lowered her mother's casket down into the dirt.

She was fourteen.

She never trusted anyone in foster care. Whenever someone was hurt they'd take it out on her. As long as they didn't touch Penelope. She kept on breathing. Her own blood dripped off her leaves and soaked through the dirt. They came, they used, they abused, they left. She kept breathing as she left the group home.

Kagome was eighteen.

Thanksgiving came around the corner quickly. Kagome came home with groceries and prepared the meal. There was no cranberry sauce. She braved the winter chills and ran out to get cranberry sauce while her husband entertained their family and guests. She had married young.

Kagome returned and went looking for him. The house was loud and boisterous with laughter and cheers. The muffled sounds of moans made her chuckled. She kept breathing when she saw through the crack of the door that her husband was fucking her 'best friend' whom she met from work.

She carved the turkey, then grabbed Penelope and picked her precious little berries. Kagome crumbled it, mixed it with the cranberry sauce. Her special ingredient, she chuckled.

They sat around the table. Her husband, her best friend, her step-father, and unbeknownst to her, the man that killed her mother as well. The noise and laughter died down as she closed her eyes, intertwine her fingers to say grace. She bowed her head down. She breathed.

"Consider it all joy, my brethren (fellow believers), when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing James 1:2-4"

They all tried the cranberry sauce first. She watched and smiled as she slipped her own spoon full of Penelope's poison into her mouth. The trick was she kept on breathing.

...........

Specialist of the Poison Control Center, Sesshoumaru Tashio was called in for his expertise on a matter of a murder-suicide at a resident. It was the very faint beating of her heart that caught his elfin ears. His speed brought him to her in less than a second. He felt for her pulse and if he hadn't been a DaiYokai, he wouldn't have known that she was still alive. But she was.

_She's still breathing,_ he thought as he lifted her up and carried her toward the ambulance to be saved.


	2. Memories

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'InuYasha' and its characters. They are properties of Rumiko Takanashi, Viz and all other affiliates. I make nothing from the writing of this story or any of my other stories.

**Warning: Somewhat explicit 'rape' scene in the chapter. Please be warned. Turn back now if you're offended by such things!!!**

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**So like a rose: Chapter 2.  
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**Memories...**

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In his chamber Sesshomaru reminisce of the girl. The girl who's face had haunted him for years. There was something about her that very first day he met her, saved her. Her eyes, captivated his soul. Those innocent, fear filled eyes. Sesshomaru ruffled his bangs and slid his hand through his long silver locks. Rising from his seat, long legs carried him out towards the front door for an evening stroll.

The evening was pleasant, cool and breezy, just how he liked it. Was the woman he saved the same girl he saved years ago? Their faces were almost identical, the woman was of course, more defined, contoured, but at the same time rough - like she's been through a lot. The girl was young, her skin still subtle and smooth, not yet filled with the rough lines of a matured woman. He was young when he saved the girl, the last year of his 'teen'. When he had carried the young woman toward the ambulance, her eyes were closed. If he could only see her eyes he would know for sure that she was one and the same. But he didn't. So now, he wasn't sure. _What is it about her that stirred this Sesshomaru so?_ He wondered to himself.

Her aura.

There was a polarity around her aura that sucked him in. Lured him. Called to him, his being, his beast.

.................Flashback...........

It was years ago but he was the one who saved her. Her hero, her knight in shining armor. She was but a young teen, 12 years old. She remembered that her 13th birthday was but a week away. She was walking home from the store in late afternoon, but it felt almost like night. The sky was dark from the winter weather. But she was still happy trying to keep warm thinking about her birthday, the one day in which she would receive a present. The one time that she could push all the negative things in her life away and wish. Wish upon the candle lights for a better life. A life where she wasn't abused. A life where her mother could protect her, but she knew her fate was sealed. She was doomed to misery and there was nothing she could do to change that. Yet, Kagome kept her hopes alive.

She was almost home when a she felt something hard against her head. She fell onto the ground and groaned. Kagome felt her body being lifted up and carried somewhere. Minutes later she was tossed against a hard wall and slowly she blinked her eyes. Coming to, she realized she was in some strange warehouse, a few men looming over her. Dazed, she couldn't make out if there were eight or six or four. They were snickering as they proceeded to unbuckle their belts.

"She's gonna be so tight!" Kagome heard a gruff voice sneering excitedly with lust.

The others laughed. She struggled to move but her head hurt and she felt almost paralyzed. Then Kagome felt hands groping her all over. She opened her mouth to scream for help but nothing came out. She kicked and flailed her hands and legs about wildly but was quickly pinned down by the other men. When she did managed to find her voice to scream it was covered by rough, rugged hands. Kagome fought with all her might but she was no match against four grown men. She was beaten over and over until she felt delirious so that each time she blinked she saw stars. Kagome whimpered and tears rolled out of her eyes as she heard the sounds of her clothes being ripped.

_Not again, not like this, not this many..._was all she could pray in her mind. _Keep breathing Kagome..._

She felt the slap on her face and open her mouth to screamed, only to have a hard flesh shoved in its place. "If you bite me, I swear I'll kill you!" the gruff voice threatened as he raped her mouth. Her hands held back and she felt the cold air hit her body while it was being groped everywhere by various other hands. When she thought all hope was lost _his_ voice rang out.

"GET. OFF. HER!" It was strong and commanding. But something about the voice that lurched in her stomach and rolled her nerves.

"Get out of here, it's none of your fucking business, unless you want to get hurt." One of the men threatened.

"I won't repeat myself. Get. off. her!" The next thing she knew she heard bodies slamming against garbage cans and she was finally released. Scrambling about she gathered pieces of her torn clothing and covered her body as she cringed into a little ball with fear.

Another loud crash and then there was nothing.

Silence.

Her arms curled against her chest as if anticipating to be beaten again. She cringed in the corner, her body pressed against the cold damp wall.

Kagome opened her eyes to see men's body strewn carelessly about. She wasn't sure if they were dead or not. She looked up, her hands still clutching over her chest for protection, and she gazed into eyes of man that could only be real in dreams and fantasies. They were a deep golden amber, the vibrant color only achieved in works of art or the rising or setting of the sun. No one she'd ever met in real life had eyes so vivid, so piercing, so enthralling. If she didn't know any better, she would assume she was dead and in the presence of an angel.

He moved and Kagome cringed, tears rolling off her face in defeat when he removed his haori.

She whimpered when he got close.

"Please don't!" She cried out, her hands covering her head as she continued cower in a little ball.

"Hn." He responded as he draped his haori over her. She opened her eyes again and saw that he had his back turned to her. "Put it on." He said. The deep tone of his voice melted her in a way she never knew. It was almost 'tender'. She'd never been cared for in this way in her entire life.

She followed his instructions and put the haori on. She tried to move and realized that her body was badly beaten. Her ankle was twisted she finally noticed the piercing pain and a soft whimper escaped her chest. Hearing the sound of her painful groan he leaned down and picked her up.

"You'll be okay" he assured her, his voice warm and soothing. As he carried her out of the warehouse, she never blinked, staring at him. His face stoic. His features was something like a work of art, straight nose, angular jaw. Broad strong shoulders and arms that carried her with grace, like she was a mere feather to him. The image of him had burned deep into her memory and into her heart. She didn't know who the man was that saved her. But she loved him still. And from that day, her heart had belonged to him and only him.

As a young woman, she never forgot about him. She had dreams and fantasies of one day she'll meet him again and…_and what?_ She laughed at herself at the ludicrous thought. _That he'd fall in love with me and whisk me off to happily ever after?…_But, who was she to make him wait all these years? Of course he was with someone. A man like him, wouldn't be without the prettiest, sexiest woman on his arm. And she was... _neither_, she admitted glumly. She figured he'd have lines of girls waiting. _As he should_, she sighed.

Then she met her husband and married. Settling into the 'normal' life. Only to realize that her cursed luck would never end. On Thanksgiving day she would find him fucking her good friend while she ran to get more things for the house. It was as if the straw that broke the camel's back because Kagome couldn't take it anymore, and she decided that once and for all, everyone was going to pay and she will never have to suffer again. Kagome decided that if she was living Hell on Earth, then she might as well imprisoned her soul in Hell itself.

_Penelope,_ Kagome made her decision.

.....~.....

Kagome didn't know how she survived, but she did. She didn't know that the man who saved her the second time around was the same man that had saved her ten years ago. But waking up from her coma, no one was able to figure out that she was the one who poisoned everyone. The authorities thought it was just a mistake. The red berries being so close and the fresh cranberries nearby - anyone could have mistaken it.

While sitting in her bed at the hospital she wondered why she was saved. What it was about her that the Fates wouldn't let go. Why she had to endure more suffering.

It was then that her fate changed, and everything was handed to her on a silver plater.

A man, coming to visit his dying father had entered the wrong room. _Her room._ When she turned her head from the window to see who had entered her room, her deep serene blue eyes captured his soul. From that moment on, he made sure the nurses moved her to a more luxurious room. Made sure that she received the best services. Flowers were sent to her daily and after a week of blood transfusion to get rid of the poison, he began courting her. Taking her out on dates, spoiling her with expensive gifts. And each time that she would reward him with a smile, his heart would flutter.

......End.....

Now, dressed in an exquisite red, mandarin collar gown with a high slit, Kagome was attending one of the most pretigious parties....

Leaving the overcrowded party she walked outside for a breath of fresh air. Kagome walked into a large unoccupied room. She poked around the room, curiosity got the better of her. She saw the large sliding door open and the curtains swayed beautiful under the moon lit night. Closing the door behind her, she walked over toward the enticing balcony leaned over the railing, tilting her face towards the moon. _The moon_. Kagome felt a twinge in her heart. _The moon_. She repeated again in her mind. Specifically recalling the memories of the man, who saved her....but she couldn't remember. All she knew was he was like an angel, an angel with a crescent moon on his forehead.

Below, the doors opened and welcome the DaiYokai into the party. Grabbing a champagne from one of the trays, he began to greet some of the people he knew........

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**Review please! ~Ts.**


	3. Chapter 3: Leave of absence

**AUTHOR'S IMPORTANT NOTE: **Dear Friends/fans/readers and everyone who loves fanfiction as much as I do, and who reads my stories. Please understand that I am going through a very VERY difficult time right now. My dad has been diagnosed with Lung Cancer and currently is in the ICU at the hospital. It is a very hard time and as much as I'd like to continue to write and finish my stories, I just don't have the time nor the heart to do it. I do hope that you all will understand and pray for him. It is terminal so I am not in any kind of delusion that he will get well, however, we, as a family do hope that he gets out from the ICU and can have manageable pain so that he can fly to Viet Nam to finish what he wanted to do before he dies. My father was a great man, who was tortured in the Viet Cong prison for 16 years fighting for his country as well as the US. He's left a great name and a legacy that I will make sure my children will never forget. My youngest son, Henry is very very sad because he was very close to my father. Even though he's two and doesn't really fully comprehend the situation, in his heart he feels there is something amiss and it breaks my heart to see him, and especially my mother go through this. Please pray for him and when I get well, I promise you will be reading wonderful stories, and I will do my best to make you all love them.

With Love,

Teensie-Sama


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